Between Life and Death
by singingswede
Summary: Alanna is injured. Jon and George wonder if she'll live. Bear with me, this is my first fanfic.
1. Attack!

Alanna and Jon were out riding in the Royal Forest on a leisurely afternoon. After a while, they brought Moonlight and Darkness down to a walk and started to chat. "So," said the King, "how long are you back for this time?" "I don't know," answered the Lioness. "It all depends on - " She stopped in mid-sentence. There was a surprised look on her face. "Alanna?" said Jon worriedly. He caught her as she fell out of her saddle, a black arrow sticking out of her back. The King wheeled around to face the attackers, but the two men were fleeing. He started to go after them but realized he didn't have time. Jonathan seized Alanna's wrist, searching for a pulse. When he was satisfied that it was there, though weak and slow, he told Moonlight to follow him, hoping the horse would obey. He didn't have enough hands to hold the reins of two horses without dropping Alanna. The horse needed no urging to follow her mistress. The two horses galloped at top speed back to the palace.  
  
Alanna was drowning in a sea of gray. People were approaching her. Big Thor. Thom. Liam. Even Duke Roger. "What are you doing here?" she asked, confused. "I thought you were all dead." "We are," answered her twin. He floated away into the darkness before Alanna could question him further. "Wait!" she cried. "Come back! What's happening? Why am I here?" She tried to run after Thom, but found that her legs wouldn't obey her. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder "Hush, my child," said the voice of the Great Mother Goddess. "I am here with you. I cannot influence where this journey will take you, but I can ease the way." Alanna felt a wave of warmth wash over her. The hand was gone. Or perhaps she just couldn't feel it anymore. "Thank you," she murmured. Then she knew no more. 


	2. A Love Lost

Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you like it! More's coming soon!  
  
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine. They're all Tamora Pierce's. I'm not good enough to come up with them on my own! : )  
  
Delia of Eldorne sat in her chair smiling. Alanna the Lioness had killed her beloved Roger, not once, but twice. Now, at last, it was her chance for revenge. Alanna would die soon, if she wasn't dead already. Her poisoned arrow had made sure of that. The King would be distraught and weak when she revealed her real power! Tortall would be hers!  
  
Darkness galloped into the stables at top speed. "Get Duke Baird!" Jonathan called to Stefan as he hastily dismounted. "Tell him to hurry!" The hostler obeyed, running as fast as he could to the healer's quarters. Jon laid the limp form of Alanna on a bench nearby. He checked her pulse again. It was still there, but getting weaker by the minute. He turned her over to get a look at the wound in her back. She had already lost a lot of blood and the arrow was in deep. Duke Baird entered the room breathless in a short while. He took one look at his patient and got to work. "Your Highness," he said, "I'll need you to help me with your Gift. I'll remove the arrow, but once it's out, you'll have to help me stop the blood flow. This is no ordinary arrow. There is magic on it. I can feel it just by touching it. She is in gravest danger." Jon nodded grimly as the chief healer set to work. The King had seen him work many times, but it was somehow horrifying to watch when it was on Alanna. He knew that he was married to Thayet and Alanna to George, but he couldn't help but still feel something for her. It had been years since their fight in the desert, but he still regretted it. Alanna gave a small twitch when the Duke removed the arrow from her back. Blood started flowing freely from the hole the arrow had occupied. Jonathan quickly got to work bandaging the wound and putting healing magic on it while the healer inspected the arrow. "This is very strange magic," commented Duke Baird thoughtfully. "I haven't seen anything like this since Duke Roger was killed." Jonathan stopped moving and stared. His cousin had been the most powerful - and evilest - sorcerer who ever lived. Jon wouldn't put it past him to be able to kill someone from the realm of the dead. It would be just his sort of thing. Suddenly, the King realized that his hands were covered in blood, despite the thick bandage on Alanna's back. "I need some help here!" he cried. "I can't stop the bleeding!" Duke Baird rushed over to help him. They both put the most powerful magic they could find within themselves on the wounded figure lying before them. As they worked, Jon prayed to all the gods that she would be alright. He loved her, even if he couldn't show that love openly.  
Suddenly, the stable door burst open and a man strode in.  
"What's happened to Alanna?" demanded George Cooper. 


	3. Reminiscence

Thanx so much for the reviews! I'm glad you like it! I am so excited that people are enjoying my story! Please R&R!  
  
Disclaimer: All of these characters are Tamora Pierce's, not mine!  
  
Jon and Duke Baird looked up from their patient at her frightened and flustered husband. He was disheveled and looking worse than either man had ever seen him.  
"Come help," said the King. "We'll tell you as we work."  
George obliged, kneeling down beside the body of his wife. He inspected the wound carefully. He had experience in healing from his mother and his many personal injuries from his former life as the King of Thieves.  
"Poisoned arrow?" he asked, already knowing the answer. When the other two men nodded, he let out a deep sigh. "We need to counteract this immediately. Alanna told me yesterday. She's with child."  
Jon's eyes widened. "I knew something was up!" he said quietly. "She was acting sort of distant and happy this morning."  
"She said she wanted to go riding today because she wouldn't be able to much longer, what with the extra weight of the baby and all," George said. "I should have come along. I was too busy getting reacquainted with old friends."  
Duke Baird gently reminded the two fearful men to get back to work.  
"I'll go back to my quarters and get some supplies," the healer told them. "Try to stop the blood flow if you can. She can't afford to lose much more blood than she's already lost."  
The two men got to work. They were silent as they each used their Gift and tried to hold together the broken skin. Each man was thinking about the possibility of losing Alanna. Both of them had loved her for years. Neither could ever bear to live without her.  
George was worrying only about the lives of his wife and unborn child. Jon, however, was mourning the love he knew now would never be his. He had children of his own, but somehow he had thought that as long as she didn't have children, there was still a chance between them. Thayet was a beautiful woman and a good Queen, but he would never love her as he loved Alanna. His marriage had been for the good of the kingdom. He still regretted that fight in the desert years ago, when she had left him forever. He would give anything to take George's place as her husband!  
Jon snapped back into reality from his daydream as George gave a cry.  
"Use more of your Gift!" Alanna's husband exclaimed. "The poison's spreadin'!"  
Jon could see the anxiety on the older man's face as he used his Gift to try and save the lives of his wife and child. George didn't have much healing magic, but he used every spare drop he could find in himself. Jon got to work helping him. They tried to draw out the poison, using the strength of their magic, but only managed to get a drop or two out. They fought until they had no more strength, and then collapsed in exhaustion.  
  
Duke Baird entered the stables, his arms full of bandages and herbs, to find the two men lying unconscious on the floor. He quickly grabbed a water bucket and threw the contents over them. They stirred and sat up.  
"Oh no!" George cried. "We've left her alone for too long!" He hurried to try and use his healing magic on his wife, but the Duke stopped him.  
"You've already used too much magic," the healer said gently. "You can't help her anymore without killing yourself. We're going to take her to the healers' quarters. There isn't much more we can do here. Jon, if you want to run ahead and tell them we're coming."  
"Say no more," said the King as he ran in the direction of the rooms where the palace healers cared for their patients.  
Duke Baird wrapped a thick bandage around Alanna's shoulder, trying to stop the blood flow for a while. Then he and George gathered her up gingerly and carried her towards the room Jon had just run to. 


	4. Anxiety

Sorry I haven't written in so long! I HATE MIDTERMS!!!!!!!!!!! And now, right when they're over, I get two research papers to do in a week! If anyone has any good sources on the Byzantine Empire or the Plague, please tell me! Anyways, I finally wrote again! Thanx so much for the reviews! I really appreciate it.  
  
Disclaimer: None of it's mine! Get the gist? Good.  
  
Without further ado..  
  
George and Duke Baird entered the room to find that a bed had been set up. Jon was waiting with another healer for Alanna. The former two placed Alanna gently on the bed. The new healer rushed to the bedside to inspect his patient, but Duke Baird stopped him.  
"She's been hit in the shoulder with a poisoned arrow. It just missed her heart. There's a lot of bleeding, and we can't seem to stop it. I need some thick thread and a needle," the chief healer said.  
"I'll get it," volunteered Jonathan. "You're needed here."  
"Thank you, Your Majesty," replied the healer.  
Jon swiftly left the room in search of his supplies. Duke Baird removed the bandage he had hastily wrapped to inspect the wound further. The cloth was soaked through with blood already. The bleeding hadn't slowed at all.  
"Get me some of the blood clotting potion," ordered the chief healer. "We need to stop the bleeding right away!"  
"Is there anything I can do," asked George desperately. He felt so helpless watching his wife. He wanted to do anything he could to assist the healers in some way.  
"Get me more bandages from the cupboard," Duke Baird said. "I'll need a lot of them." Then he fell silent, concentrating on using his Gift to try and heal the King's Champion.  
George quickly obeyed. His mind was reeling with the gravity of the matter at hand. He would have to be one of the people who determined whether his wife and child survived. It was all too much to consider at once. He felt too stunned and scared to weep. He almost started laughing at the irony of the situation. His wife had gone out riding because she knew that she was going to have a baby. Now she might not have that baby because of the ride. He quickly took his mind off this and got to retrieving bandages.  
A moment later, Jon ran back into the room, bearing the needle and thread he had been sent to fetch. Duke Baird grabbed them from the King's hands and set to work sewing up the wound. It took several minutes. Then he grabbed the bandages from George and wrapped them around the area.  
"I know she isn't bleeding anymore with the stitches in," he explained as he worked, "but I don't want the wound to reopen, so I'm using the bandages as cushion."  
When he finished, he sat back for a moment before picking up the arrow.  
"Now that the bleeding's controlled, we need to find out an antidote for this poison. She is already burning with fever. It's good that she isn't losing anymore blood, but we need to get the poison out of her system or she will most certainly die."  
"What do we need to do?" asked George anxiously, his face pale.  
"We need to look at Roger's books. I am certain that this is of his doing, somehow," the Duke answered grimly.  
  
Delia sat at her desk laughing.  
They're probably thinking Roger has come back again! she thought. I wish it were so! But they don't realize that Roger left me some of his spells for just this occasion! They won't figure out what it is until it's too late!  
  
TBC...... 


End file.
